Deprive Civic Rights of R.Sampanthan, Mavai Senathirajah and all other 20 MPs won in 2004 General Elections

Deprive the Civic Rights of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), and Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi Leaders R. Sampanthan and Mavai s. Senathirajah and all the other 20 Tamil Members of Parliament, who won the Parliamentary General Election in 2004, demands octogenarian V. Anandasangaree.

Octogenarian Anandasangaree, the Secretary General of the Tamil United Liberation Front and also a veteran Tamil Leader in a statement pointed out that, a Presidential Commission has to be appointed to find out whether the ITAK leaders should or should not be held responsible for all that happened after their declaration in 2004 that “ that the LTTE Leader V.Prabhakaran is their National Leader and LTTE the sole representatives of the Tamil People.

In a statement comparing the gravity of the speech recently made by Vijayakala Maheswaran MP and the one recently resigned her state Ministership, he posed a very pertinent question -

“Has Vijayakala Maheswaran committed any offence, more serious or less serious or even comparable to that of R. Sampanthan’s and Mavai Senathirajah’s commitment, at the General Election of 2004.”

Anandasangaree, a veteran Tamil Leader in a statement pointed out that “It was at this election that Democracy got completely derailed in the North and the East, never to regain its past glory gained by great sacrifices of the TULF Leaders.

He further pointed out, “One such sacrifice that the Tamil United Liberation Front made was in July 1983 when the entire lot of 18 TULF Members of Parliament vacated their seats, protesting against the extension of the term of Parliament by a referendum, for a full term of six years.

(He has discreetly left out without mentioning their opposition to the introduction of the Sixth Amendment to Sri Lanka Constitution which amended the Article 101 of the Constitution and inserted the Article 157A in the Constitution, demanding a solemn declaration, or Affirmation or Swear to uphold the Constitution. He too resigned his Parliamentary seat, mainly opposing the introduction of the Sixth Amendment by the then President J.R.Jeyawardene.)

He added, “Of the 18 members the only two living today are R. Sampanthan and me. Surprisingly the TULF was deliberately weakened due to the untiring efforts of M/s R. Sampanthan and Mavai Senathirajah who are still Members of Parliament.”

Anandasangaree stated, “It was at the General Election of 2004, the fraudulently revived ITAK, misusing the name of the TNA, issued its manifesto, openly declaring the LTTE as the National Leaders and also as sole Representatives of the Tamil People. They swept the polls under the leadership of M/s R. Sampanthan and Mavai Senathirajah winning 22 seats. An organization helped the ITAK candidates with their cadre and engaging over 100 vehicles, many without number plates. School children who had no voting rights, voted for the ice-cream they got. “

“The media whether print or electronic all over the world has a sacred duty to record correctly the history of the country not only locally but internationally too, with all distortions corrected promptly. Failure to do so could amount to treason. I listened to and read a number of comments, made by various people from all walks of life, on the controversial speech made by Vijayakala Maheswaran from an open platform, in the presence of her Parliamentary colleagues and Ministers. I view this problem from a different angle. "

"Similar provocative speeches had been made in Parliament by its members in the past, for the consumption of their constituents, who watch Parliamentary proceedings on the T.V. It is still being done in remote areas of their constituencies for their strong supporters, to get their applause. It may not be irrelevant if I mention here how one Member said in Parliament that 40,000 coffins will cross the Elephant Pass and got a slap on the face when retorted by another that if so four hundred thousand coffins from the south will meet at Elephant Pass, he added.

My strong plea is that the various personalities who had made adverse comments on the conduct of Vijayakal - 'a little sprat' , should go back to see what big whales like Sampanthan and

Mavai Senathirajah did from 2004 and continuing even now.”

The Veteran Tamil Leader said, “What Vijayakala had said, seem to have come from her heart, moved by sentiments. The victim of the cruel Incident was a six years old child. The reaction of any mother to this incident is understandable. Apart from that, this mother has two grown up daughters. Above all she is the state Minister of child affairs. Everyone of us should try to understand her sentiments. It is to impress on the gathering, including the Parliamentarians, she had made that statement without realizing the seriousness of the issue. If Vijayakala had committed a serious offence after having taken the oath of allegiance, how is it that M/s R. Sampanthan and Mavai Senathirajah, having accepted the LTTE as a National Leader and sole representative of the Tamil people, took the oath of allegiance after winning the election and remained for the full term of six years in Parliament and still continue to remain so.”

“I wish to emphasize that I don’t hold a brief to Vijayakala. I am only appealing that the conduct of the two whale’s M/s. R. Sampanthan and Mavai Senathirajah, although belated should be considered seriously and suitable action taken to expel both of them from Parliament, depriving them of their seats in it. Action should be taken to deprive them of their civic rights and should be tried for treason. All the 22seats they won at the General Election of 2004 were by large scale impersonations mostly by school children. One who got defeated at the counting subsequently got elected later in the day. One candidate seems to have obtained over 120 thousand votes. In this case the coffin story had helped him to win."

He continues - Although belated I strongly urge that even now it is not too late to appoint a Presidential Commission to find out whether the ITAK leaders should or should not be held responsible for all that happened after their declaration in 2004 that the LTTE is the National Leader and sole representatives of the Tamil People. It is this stand that the ITAK (TNA) took ultimately destroyed the LTTE also. How many people know that the LTTE was preparing to give up arms and to bring all Tamil Parties under one umbrella and to contest the General Election of 2004 under the common symbol the “rising sun” belonging to the Tamil United Liberation Front, without any interference by anyone from the TULF. If this had happened several thousand lives and Billions worth of properties would have been saved. The entire LTTE carder would have returned to normal life. In the new setup fighting would have stopped and normalcy would have been restored in the whole Island with a solution acceptable to all ethnic groups.

The greed for power of two Tamil leaders in particular had brought destruction to the entire Nation which is still profusely bleeding even nine years after the war came to an end. The most sensible thing for Mr. Sampanthan and Mr.Senathirajah is to quit their seats in Parliament and leave the future of the Tamils in particular and that of the country in general, in the hands of the patriotic citizens. Neither Hon. R. Sampanthan or Hon. Mavai Senathirajah has legal right or even moral right to hold any Public Office.

The Tamil United Liberation Front very sincerely believe that adoption of the Indian Model of the constitution, along with a chapter on Bill of Rights based on the South African constitution will be very much acceptable as a solution to the ethnic problem - V. Anandasangaree.